You decide to spend a day with Dean Mapleseat's archives regarding The Bleached Beaches, learning as much about the former and future colony as you can. You can tell The High Elf is not keen to let a dragon leaf through her collection of documents, but to her credit, she doesn't outwardly object to the activity.
The Bleached Beaches, you learn, is situated on and around a natural harbor called The Whalefluke. In its heyday the settlement was divided into three districts:
Elm Island sits in the mouth of the harbor, and is covered by a small un-haunted forest: a rarity in Doomrus. In the penal colony days the island housed a mixture of humans and dwarves who were tasked with preventing the exiles from escaping The Bleached Beaches, as well as launching fishing vessels to keep the scatter brained High Elves fed. Elm Island has a large port and system of long docks; It was forbidden to leave seaworthy ships anywhere else in the colony, less the exiles get to them.
The Bleached Cape is a low lying peninsula that is almost entirely covered by a walled town that the High Elves called Chainbleach back in penal times. Urvile Mapleseat, the most recent explorer to visit the colony, claims that although most of the buildings are now ruined, the town walls, inquisitor's hall, and subterranean desalination and waste processing station all remain structurally sound. This information, however, is just over 200 years old. The marble foundation of the aborted Goldwalls University tower sits near the center of the ghost town.
Mount Ogre-Ear, said to be the third tallest peak in all of Doomrus, looms the colony. Several dozen large High Elf Manors, which once housed the most important exile households, dot the slope which overlooks the bay. These manors, constructed with superior High Elf Magic and Architecture, were all standing when Urvile Mapleseat visited 200 years ago. Aside from providing high value real estate, Mount Ogre-Ear also serves as a natural barrier between the colony and the haunted woods which lay beyond.
Aside from the layout of The Bleached Beaches, you learn a few other interesting facts while reading through Dean Mapleseat's archives.
The Whalefluke is named such because every seventh year a rarely seen species called the Abyssal Toothed Whale arrives at the harbor in large numbers to mate and give birth, a process that takes ten to thirteen months. High Elf Scholars speculate that The Whalefluke may be the only place in the world where creatures breed.
Dean Mapleseat keeps a large scroll of strange ancient elfish runes that she has labeled as a ritual created by the original inhabitants that likely serves to boost the rate of plant growth on Elm Island so that its small forest can provide for a healthy lumber industry. Mapleseats own notes suggest that the ritual would require several trained FFB mages to perform. The Dean, however, has recently cursed the scroll to self-immolate should it be touched or read by anyone affiliated with the University of High Haven, as she cannot allow her rival Dr. Seville the glory of carrying out the ritual and establishing a sustainable supply of wood. You can't help but admire the female elf's arrogance and ego, even as you curse her impracticality.
Lastly, you read several interesting reports about the manor house situated closed to the summit of Mount Ogre-Ear. The building, called High Fang, was once home to the Black Prince DiXander, a legendary warrior mage who famously slew the Red Dragon Trigorr, only to be convicted of Capital Miscegenation and banished when he took the queen of said vanquished dragon's Elemental Elf Worshipers as a wife. Apparently Prince DiXander and his wife, Queen Olivescales, spent much of their time exploring the continent, and their mansion is said to contain both a tunnel to the dangerous far slope of the mountain, and a map of their exploits carved into the trophy room floor.
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Your attempt to gather information on the methods and timing of your pawns' construction efforts goes poorly. Grom'Chul assures you that he should be able to get the clownfin to build with marble blocks, but that he has never actually made slaves build with stone before, so he has no clue how fast they might work. To make matters worse, neither Dr. Seville nor Dean Mapleseat trust the half-orc not to share their plans with their counterpart, so he doesn't even expect to see blueprints until the day the clownfin are supposed to begin work.
When you engage the half orc about the resources that the Clownfin may provide, the answer is likewise unenthusiastic. "They can mill various flowers if we expose them to the dangers of the open ocean," he offers, "and I suppose we could try feeding sea-bread to the elves, but no self respecting orc would eat such tripe. We can only hope that our new home will have a species of fish or crustacean suitable for them to farm. ...I guess they can make some pretty neat dyes as well, if you are into that."
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Deciding not to torture yourself by 'conversing' with the mute Prophet Diabold once again, you try your luck at landing a one-on-one meeting with one of his apostles. This goes poorly at first. Most refuse your invitation, claiming that since you do not possess demonic blood, to converse with you outside their duties as translator to the prophet would be sinful. Eventually, however, you strike the jackpot when Lux, the youngest of Diabold's apostles, agrees to meet with you on the condition that you lower yourself to adopting a Tiefling-like form. Several hours later, you are in his cabin.
Lux gives you the run down on the tenets of his faith. Their deity Bahammed was one of the 13 gods to walk the world before the coming of the dwarves, and like his twelve counterparts, he was hunted down and defeated by the gods and kings of early dwarfkind. The victorious dwarves, however, did not kill Bahammed outright; Instead, they cut off each of his four limbs, sealed him in an adamantine vault, and dropped him down a magma shaft deep below the earth. Satisfied that they had condemned their foe to an eternity of undying torment and burning, the dwarves left Bahammed's limbs to rot, not knowing that the anger of their former owner would cause each to rise as a mighty demon.
"Bahammed seeks death, as his existence is nothing but suffering." Lux explains, "to this end, the god has made a pact with our prophet. Diabold will lead his followers to hunt down and destroy the demons of the four limbs. Doing so will allow Bahammed to die. Exactly what the god is doing for us in return is a closely guarded secret. I am not permitted to speak of what little I know on the matter, aside from that fact that Bahammed's death will mean the end of the Xinut Empire, and that in the meantime myself and the other apostles wield powerful divine magics."
Lux goes on to explain that Cultists of the Four Limbs are drawn from all walks of life. The largest sub-group within the cult are Tieflings of dwarven blood running from the oppressive Xinut Empire, but Diabold himself, most of his apostles, and many of the cult's other prominent figures were born to Spirit Elf mothers in the vanishing Chia Woods. Lux offers that his mortal heritage is goblin, and that he joined the cult because Diabold could grant him visions to be used as inspiration for his art. "I am both a mason and a gem carver," he explains with no small amount of pride, "and since taking up the worship of Bahammed my work has been able to put even that of the dwarves to shame."
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You find Dr. Seville and his plans to be quite the let down, at least in the short run. His goal is to extract flesh and fluid samples from local plants and animals for magical experimentation. Save for perhaps breeding rodents to serve as test subjects, he has no real interest in any sort of animal husbandry. As for the crops he brought, none of them are meant for eating; Most are merely components for commonly performed rituals, while a handful are simply mind altering drugs to enjoy. The only plants he has brought that are remotely pratical are several species of grape intended for wine making, and a kind of reed that can be turned into high quality cloth through a labor intensive and inefficient process.
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Back in Princess Ni'gwent's cabin, you pester the she-elf to learn what she has planned in terms of a palace or lair. Ni'gwent, however, refuses to commit to anything until she knows where she will be building. This leads you to share much of what you have learned from Dean Mapleseat's archive. A wide smile spreads across Ni'Gwent's face as you tell her about the manor of The Black Prince DiXander.
"DiXander is a friend of mine!" She exclaims. It turns out that Princess Ni'gwent spent about a decade of her extended elfish childhood on the Paradise Islands, studying architecture under the exiled prince, and the lore and manners of chromatic dragons under his wife. She quickly declares that the Black Prince's manor will be her new home, and that once things settle down she will dispatch one of her ships to seek out DiXander and solicit his advice for upgrading the place into a proper palace or castle. "They really restrict the sort of homes that the exiles are allowed to live in," she explains, "but DiXander is a dreamer. I'm sure he has plans all drawn out for what he would do to his house if given free reign!"
Although she intends to improve upon the manor, Princess Ni'gwent has no doubt that it is already a suitable place to raise superior dragon blooded high elves. "Unless you offer me your hand in marriage by then, and choose to wait until the wedding night, I will celebrate my first night in my new home by giving myself to you completely. I dream of doing so every time I lay eyes on you. If you do not intend to follow elfish protocol, I don't intend to wait around for you to change your mind."
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Several days later, Dean Mapleseat pulls you aside and points to a mountain in the distance. "That is the Mount Ogre-Ear. We will arrive at the mouth of The Whalefluke by sundown."
You nod. It dawns on you that this is your opportunity to put your foot down and take control. You know almost exactly what lies ahead, a luxury that very few of your peons enjoy. Perhaps you should give specific orders as to who should settle where and do what before you arrive; If the mortals are allowed to spread out and do their own thing, you might never gain full control over them.
How do you proceed?
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Topic: (SG) Flight of the Dragon Lord (Read 8208 times)